Cal Thomas, about as conservative and fastidious a columnist as you'll find, stated once that Kennedy's sense of purpose and service of his beliefs was admirable, saying roughly, "You knew where he stood 10 years ago, you know where he stands now, you know where he'll stand 10 years from now."
Orrin Hatch, about as conservative and fastidious a senator as you'll find, worked with Kennedy to get a lot of the people's business done.
I think those facts say a lot right there. For whatever his failings were, and yes, for most of his life he was a boozehound and skirt chaser, he did a helluva lot more to make lives better than millions upon millions of supposedly pure folk. It's too bad he won't live to see universal health care, but then, he probably wishes he would have died before seeing a president of the United States called a Nazi for challenging Big Insurance.
I've always considered myself a Ted Kennedy liberal, believing that government rightly has a role in checking free enterprise when it's dysfunctional, and rightly has a role in trying to leave fewer folks in the backwash of our rich society. He did live long enough to help assure minorities the vote, children half a chance at life, and parents a chance to bond with their children in the key early weeks of life.
He was one of a kind. I'm proud of my label. RIP.
